[sic]

I have always wondered what [sic] means. The most recent example I have seen was: ‘I supposed I could write a couple of thousands [sic] words on that trip . . . But I spare you.’
I have run across it in different contexts and never really understood what it meant. Thanks

Comments

I can't remember the literal Latin meaning offhand, but it is used when something looks like a mishtake [sic], but was actually intended that way. In the example above, the author was probably quoting someone else, and inserted [SIC] to show that the grammatical error (THOUSANDS) was in the original quotation.

Yes, it is only used in a direct quotation. You can also use "[sic]" to avoid confusion. Suppose you had a quotation in which someone wrote an ellipsis (like this quote from a friend's e-mail):

"Well... maybe if you want to... we can go eat at that new Thai place tonight."

Normally the ellipsis (the three dots) are used within a quotation to show omitted material. But my friend used them to show a pause in thought. So to avoid confusion when quoting the material, I could write this:

"Well... [sic] maybe if you want to... [sic] we can go eat at that new Thai place tonight."

I think but I'm not absolutely sure (and I'm too lazy to look it up since Christ it's early) that it's Latin for "such."

It's used when you're quoting someone and something they have said is grammatically incorrect (or in the case of print, possibly spelled incorrectly). You use it to indicate that the error is theirs, not yours, and that you are just quoting them. Probably any Bush quote includes at least three instances of it (or maybe reporters don't even need to use it anymore, in his case).

It should be noted that it doesn't ALWAYS have to be used in a quote. SIC can be used any time something looks out of place, e.g. if a particular word or name is spelled unusually and there is the possibility of confusion.

you use (sic) when you are quoting someone and they have made a mistake or grammatical error, to show that the error was from the quote, and not in the re-writing of the quote.not sure exactly what it means but i use "said in context" or "spelling in context" to help remember